1 00:00:00.210 --> 00:00:04.800 Sean Murray: Is Bitcoin back? That's the question. Hello 2 00:00:04.800 --> 00:00:06.720 everybody and thank you for joining, my name is Sean Murray 3 00:00:06.720 --> 00:00:09.810 with deBanked News. And it seems Bitcoin is making a little bit 4 00:00:09.810 --> 00:00:14.100 of a comeback. The price is up over $11,000, which is still 5 00:00:14.100 --> 00:00:17.340 down from its all time high experienced in 2017, as many of 6 00:00:17.340 --> 00:00:21.450 you may recall, but that era was typically driven by euphoria, 7 00:00:21.720 --> 00:00:24.390 speculation, It was a market bubble. And what we're seeing 8 00:00:24.390 --> 00:00:27.510 now is that it's a lot more driven by fears over inflation. 9 00:00:27.630 --> 00:00:30.270 If you take a look at gold for example, the price has recently 10 00:00:30.270 --> 00:00:34.830 gone over $2,000 an ounce. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the 11 00:00:34.830 --> 00:00:37.110 twins that had that famous dispute with Mark Zuckerberg 12 00:00:37.110 --> 00:00:41.190 over Facebook, have been major advocates of Bitcoin. The twins 13 00:00:41.190 --> 00:00:44.310 were also the subject of a book called Bitcoin Billionaires, 14 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:47.040 which was the story about how they have banked their fortune 15 00:00:47.130 --> 00:00:50.340 on the future of Bitcoin. Ben Mezrich, who authored the book, 16 00:00:50.370 --> 00:00:53.970 apparently regrets not taking his own book's advice. When his 17 00:00:53.970 --> 00:00:58.230 book was published, Bitcoin was only worth $3,000. Full 18 00:00:58.230 --> 00:01:01.830 disclosure, while Ben Mezrich is crying about how he did not 19 00:01:01.830 --> 00:01:04.830 become a Bitcoin billionaire himself. I apparently failed to 20 00:01:04.830 --> 00:01:09.300 even become a Bitcoin millionaire. That's because I 21 00:01:09.300 --> 00:01:12.480 started acquiring Bitcoin in as early as 2014. That's years 22 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:15.420 before the height of the bubble when people were getting rich 23 00:01:15.450 --> 00:01:19.050 all over the place. The thing that was that was interesting to 24 00:01:19.050 --> 00:01:22.980 me about Bitcoin back in 2014, was the utility of it. I didn't 25 00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:25.170 think that it would go up in price or even if it did, I 26 00:01:25.170 --> 00:01:27.690 didn't see the the attractiveness of it as an 27 00:01:27.690 --> 00:01:31.230 investment. So what did I do? I acquired a lot. And then I just 28 00:01:31.230 --> 00:01:35.400 dumped it all. And so when 2017 came about, I was asked "Sean, 29 00:01:35.430 --> 00:01:40.890 are you rich? Did you get rich off of Bitcoin?" No. No, I 30 00:01:40.890 --> 00:01:44.130 didn't. Speaking of high prices, one company in the fintech 31 00:01:44.130 --> 00:01:48.210 industry that was valued at over $1 billion in 2014, OnDeck, 32 00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:51.660 recently had the misfortune of being sold for a lot less. Johny 33 00:01:51.660 --> 00:01:53.940 Fernandez, who is out on the scene, has more. 34 00:01:54.230 --> 00:01:56.480 Johny Fernandez: Right behind me is the entrance of OnDeck's New 35 00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:59.150 York office. Now last week, they announced that they were 36 00:01:59.150 --> 00:02:03.590 acquired by Enova at a price point of $90 million. This is 37 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:08.390 more than 90% lower than its IPO value in 2014. Now, many have 38 00:02:08.390 --> 00:02:11.300 said that OnDeck is a well respected player in the fintech 39 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:14.600 industry. But now people have questions about what this means. 40 00:02:14.900 --> 00:02:17.750 Another online lender that competes with them directly is 41 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:21.320 rumored to be for sale. An article in Barron's speculated 42 00:02:21.320 --> 00:02:25.700 that Kabbage could fetch a price of $1 billion, but that might be 43 00:02:25.700 --> 00:02:29.210 a pre-COVID estimate. Both OnDeck and Kabbage had been 44 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:33.110 virtually neck and neck in loan volume in recent years. Now 45 00:02:33.110 --> 00:02:36.530 OnDeck did reveal that they are lending again and from what we 46 00:02:36.530 --> 00:02:40.310 know they will keep the precious OnDeck brand name. Now what is 47 00:02:40.310 --> 00:02:42.980 different about the deal with Enova is that Enova is not 48 00:02:42.980 --> 00:02:46.430 located here in New York or in Silicon Valley, but rather in 49 00:02:46.430 --> 00:02:49.490 Chicago. Some observers expressed surprise that the 50 00:02:49.490 --> 00:02:52.970 buyer was Enova. But it should be noted that the two companies 51 00:02:52.970 --> 00:02:57.020 were already partners in a trade association. Enova acquired The 52 00:02:57.020 --> 00:03:01.070 Business Backer, a merchant cash advance provider, in 2015. And 53 00:03:01.070 --> 00:03:04.010 where I'm standing right now is the bottom of Times Square in 54 00:03:04.010 --> 00:03:07.280 front of OnDeck's offices. Now just north of us is usually 55 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:10.820 packed with crowds. It's very overwhelming for anyone, but we 56 00:03:10.820 --> 00:03:13.550 were just there not that long ago. And it's just not the same 57 00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:14.540 without the tourists. 58 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:22.610 Batman: The business now is slow. People, a few people at 59 00:03:22.610 --> 00:03:27.260 this moment. So maybe the next morning or tomorrow's will be 60 00:03:27.710 --> 00:03:32.480 different. But at this moment, I see everyday other people 61 00:03:32.990 --> 00:03:37.490 feeling scared, don't want picture, that people say me all 62 00:03:37.490 --> 00:03:42.080 the time "Batman good," but don't ask me, for me as 63 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:46.700 important, bring my home, anybody. 64 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:48.689 Johny Fernandez: And that's the latest from Times Square near 65 00:03:48.689 --> 00:03:54.019 the offices of OnDeck. I'm Johny Fernandez with deBanked News, 66 00:03:54.410 --> 00:03:56.750 Sean Murray: Chris Pepe the head of ISO Relations for World 67 00:03:56.750 --> 00:04:00.140 Business Lenders, recently told us that they've noticed a shift 68 00:04:00.170 --> 00:04:03.320 in property values. The real estate backed small business 69 00:04:03.320 --> 00:04:06.560 lender has been working remotely, but Chris Pepe says 70 00:04:06.590 --> 00:04:09.170 that their model has proven to be successful. 71 00:04:09.420 --> 00:04:13.230 Chris Pepe: We've definitely seen an impact on prices in 72 00:04:13.230 --> 00:04:16.890 major cities go down a little bit and continue to go down and 73 00:04:16.890 --> 00:04:21.390 vacancy rates go up slightly. And major suburb markets 74 00:04:22.050 --> 00:04:25.350 increase some of the normal reasons why an MCA may get 75 00:04:25.350 --> 00:04:29.290 declined. And everyone you know that's watching this probably 76 00:04:29.290 --> 00:04:31.860 knows, maybe there's too many NSFs, too many negative days 77 00:04:32.190 --> 00:04:35.760 defaulted to another lender, a lot of those items, normal 78 00:04:35.790 --> 00:04:39.540 decline reasons for an MCA, because we have a hard asset 79 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:42.300 because we have real estate, we're underwriting the file a 80 00:04:42.300 --> 00:04:44.700 little bit differently. We're, we're underwriting to the 81 00:04:44.700 --> 00:04:47.850 revenue on the business, but we're also looking at the the 82 00:04:47.850 --> 00:04:51.390 amount of equity in the real estate in order for us to make 83 00:04:51.390 --> 00:04:52.440 an underwriting decision. 84 00:04:52.650 --> 00:04:55.470 Sean Murray: Well we wish Chris Pepe, the Winklevoss twins, and 85 00:04:55.500 --> 00:04:59.040 Batman a lot of success. Thank you for joining. I'm Sean 86 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:01.690 Murray, with deBanked News.